I can’t recommend this great event highly enough—it is an essential experience for anyone who wants to understand critical Chinese military-technological dynamics and trends. It singlehandedly validates the wisdom of establishing the Minerva Program. Be sure to register now while there’s still space available!

2014 Summer Training Workshop on the Relationship Between National Security and Technology in China

Project SITC’s summer training course at UC San Diego is open to advanced graduate students, junior faculty, and early- to mid-career analysts and provides a comprehensive overview of the development, linkages, and roles that science, technology, and innovation play in China’s national security. The workshop examines the relationship between national security, technology, innovation, and China’s rise as a world power. Of central interest is how China is mobilizing and applying its economic, political, strategic, corporate, financial, intellectual, and scientific capabilities in conjunction with leveraging external resources to achieve its grand ambition of catching up technologically with the world’s advanced powers within the next 1–2 generations.

Course Content

Topics include:

The historical relationship between security and technology in China

Chinese grand strategic thinking on technology and security

The political economy of security and technology

The reform of the defense industry

Integration between the civilian and defense economies

The nature and structure of the Chinese national innovation system

Military end-user drivers in shaping technology innovation

China’s technology modernization efforts in comparative perspective

Prospects for China’s technological catching up

Methodological approaches and analytical tools in examining the relationship between Chinese science, technology, innovation and security

The workshop concludes with a two-day conference on the role of personalities, talent, and the human capital base in Chinese defense science, technology, and and industrial development.